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In this recording Basil Bell tells stories about his fourth time-great grandfather, Jim Vann (1768-1809), who was part Cherokee Indian. Vann was a businessman who traveled a lot. After visiting Winston Salem, North Carolina, he invited Moravian Church missionaries to his home in Springplace, Georgia, and convinced them to establish a school on the Cherokee reservation. Bell claims that as a result of the school, Cherokee leaders learned how to effectively negotiate with the United States Commission regarding reservation matters. Vann was murdered in February 1809 at the age of 41. 6:41: After his death, Jim Vanns son Joseph lived in his fathers house from 1809 until 1834. Governor Gilmer passed a law restricting American Indians from hiring white workers, after which the state reclaimed the house, forcing Vann out. 11:53: Bell discusses how Jim Vann convinced Cherokee's living on the reservation to agree to the United States Commissioners' plans to build a road from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Augusta, Georgia, that would cut through their land. At 13:30 Bell recalls a memory about a father and son, American Indians, George and John Ax from North Carolina. In the 1880s they visited Gwinnett County, Georgia, where they became known for their expertise with blow-guns. 17:25: The recording ends with a retelling of when Bells fathers friend moved to Alabama.
Basil R. Bell (1906-1980) was born to Walter L Bell (1865-1937) and Julia B. Bell (1867-1930) and was raised in Gwinnett County, Georgia, with three other siblings. Additional biographical information has not been determined.
half-breed; family history
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Oi5, f6 Source Field' (ContentDM) Release form Yes or No Transcript Yes or No scanned: From Yes or No Default text: Contributed by an OR: Donated by individual: individual through <your org. name> Georgia Folklore Collection through <your org. name> Object Information Enter .Informat'Ion about the plhlVsl.caI ObJ'leCt here: Title (interviewee W"" \ 'R. name and date of interview) A'(I" \ 1''' I c'> .' , Description (bio on ~.~,,\ ']/ , !";OS!\ \J.&.fu\, :$\ ) JCI~:)(Q interviewee) 1 Creator (Enter either an individual's Burrison Folklore Class name or an organization) Collection Name (within the Georgia Folklore Archives organization) Creation Date Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) (use only one) Year (if oniy the year is known) Circa (4 digit year) ,q titb Year Span From To Object Type Image_ Text - Text and image_ Video and sound - Sound only-.::{J Media Format Reel-reel (VHS, reel to reel, etc) Recording Hours: (')0 extent Minutes: .k~;q'\iti ,,;)O',I}() Derivatives Access copy: Yes or No Access copy format: Recording clip Yes or No Clip extent: '1 :III I Time code for Beginning: ~:J06t End: "i',,;s clip (h:m:s) Notes (interview fA, 'Bod\ (.;:' (}.~::l)J h,'-> ~... 1l/-'{'CfI' f',~,G,..u\ 1,tA summary) olk, f{,-,lf/\,~l,-,.\tt""p~~ - , ... , . .' , '. ~ ,2 Recording issues (background noise, echo, static, etc.) Subject Information Enter 'InformatI'o.n about the content 0 f theobJ'leCt here: Subject Date Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) (use only one) Year (if only the year is known) Circa (4 digit year) Year Span From To Subject Who Last Name First Name MI P>,,\\ ~">;, 12, \/"'1\(\ ~}~ lcJ\ Subject Country State County Town Local Name Location W" Gl', G", ~ily,~:t\ }>,J!v-\'\\ Subject What AHC Cataloger will complete this for you. (LOC subject headinns onlY) Keywords Burrison, John Personal names See subject who for additional names 3 Corporate , names Geographic locations , Topics (J/l.tl\~~_>"'[:~.~ ~t." ('".,,(&,r,':> FOLKLORE rOLL!'.Crnr; PROJECT En(lish ~07 'lay 17, 196R .Tane 1-3. Rea INFORMANT Basil. R. ReU R.f'.D. 2 Duluth, Georgia COLLECTOR Jane R. Rea Rox 275 Mt. Jackson, Virginia PLACE OF COLLECTING Gwinnett County, Georgia DATE OF COLLECTING April 13, 1968 INTRODUCTION Basil Bell was horn on March 31, 1906, and raised at his family's old home place located hetween the towns of Duluth and Suwanee in Gwinett County, Georgia. Both of these towns were founded in 1871 when the Southern Railroad was constructed through that section of Gwinett County. Today, as in the past, the community is a rural one (as evidenced hy the present population of Duluth and Suwanee--842 and 357, respectively) consisting primarily of small, independent farmers and a few small, local industries. I heard about Mr. Oell through several sources in Suwanee (Miss Carfax Baxter, a local, old maid school teacher and Mr. Marvin Verner, a retired railroad worker) while searching for an informant on my collecting trip. Both Miss Baxter and Mr. Verner thought that I might be interested in some information about the Indians of that area and suggested that ~fr. Bell would be a good source. After a phone call to Mr. Bell from Mr. Verner asking if I could come see him, I drove out to his house--a small, fairly new, white frame house located about one-quarter of a mile from his old home place. Mr. Bell was sitting under a shade tree in his front yard dressed in a pair of blue overalls and a blue work shirt. In physical appearance, Mr. Bell is tall and slender, with gray hair and rugged, weather-beatened skin. He received me warmly, sat down, rolled a cigarette, and began to tell me the stories in the following transcript. One might question whether or not the following transcript is simply historical information as seen through the eyes of a member of a folk community or folklore. Perhaps that question is best answered by Mr, Rell himself. When I told him that I understood that he knew some information about the Indians of that area, he replied, "I don't know about information, but I sure know a lot of mis-information," BASIL BELL: My information concerning the Indians is, uh, relates only to those that are kin to me and the legend and lore that uh I've heard about them. Now, uh, my fourth grandfather was old ,lim Vann who built the Vann house up at Springplace, Georgia, that has, that the State Historical Association uh restored as nearly as possible t6 its original state here several years ago. Now accorinrr to this that I've <> heard and what I've read concerning old Grandpa .J im, he was a most notorious character. lIe \Ilas a half-breed, get, uh ~~e t 9 on drunken orgies and really raise the dickens in lots of respects. Now Grandpa was a pretty well to do man for his times. Its my understanding that he had about four thousand acres of land, that he tended eight hundred in various crops, eight hundred acres in various crops. He had a sawmill and a foundry, a considerable orchard, a big bunch of slaves, and a nice, uh, still and that he was not only a good farmer hut was a good businessman. He traded in slaves extensively and that he traveled for that day and time a lots. He went to Apgusta and Savannah, Washington. In one of his trips, uh, he came to Winston Salem, North Carolina, and there he saw a Moravian Mission. IVeil this, uh, mission impressed ole Grandpa and he invited the Moravians to come down to his place at Springplace. Georgia, and, uh, establish a school like they had at, uh , Winston Salem. So, in a matter of a few months, possibly a year, they came. 'When the Moravians come why they brought presents to Mrs. Vann. When they got down there they found out that Grandpa had two wives. That sort of complicated matters momentarily but he worked it out some way. But Grandpa was good to the Moravians. fIe sorta had a two fold idea with gittin' them there. They were educated and his education wasn't too much. He needed them to help him ~ith his business, uh, enterprises and interests as well as what they could do to the Indians and other part-breed, uh, children and young folks in the community. So when they arrived Grandpa being the character he was and was much respected and considerably feared in that area, he went down and when school opened and told all the pupils now that if they did anything that they shouldid-na -- mistreated these Moravians in any way they'd be accountable to himn for the conduct. And the conduct was good. And they did lots of good in that area and, uh, one of the greatest contributions he made to the Cherokee nation was in helping to educate some of the latter leaders that bargained with the United States Commissioners in, uh, trying to git as good a deal as possible for the Oherokee Indians. Grandpa was a rough man. He killed several people and accordin~ to the legend, according to what I've heard, on one occasion some of Grandpa's enemies decided the way to destroy him would be to break him. Get his money. So Grandpa had not only these two wives, but he had another lady friend up there he was very mIlch interested in. One of his recent trips from, uh, some of the>"'uh distant cities he brought a whole lots of fine, uh, silks and linens and cloth to this, uh, lady friend. So these, uh, would-he conspirators against him stole, they got six hundred dollars out of one place where he had it ]lidden and they got, 1 helieve it was, three thousan'] at another place and they broke in this lady friend's house and stole that cloth. Well when Grandpa heard about that he had a danf'.ed fit. Ife chased down these, uh, folks he suspected of committin' tllis crime and, llh, tortured 'em til they confessed and then executed 'em. That's suppose to he the gospel truth. MARGIE HOWELL: Really? RASH RELL: Tried 'em, cauf'.ht 'em, tried 'em, and executed 'em. JANE ilEA: ilow'd he execute them? !lASH !)ELL: Shot 'em I f'.uess. I don't know abollt that. But Grandpa's rope soon gave out on him. This violent life he lived caught up with him when he was forty-one years old, and he was assassinated. According to the story, he was assassinated up here in Forsyth county jllst six or eif'.ht miles east of Ball Ground, Georgee. What at that time was known as Ruffington's Inn. Some others call it qlackhurn's Inn. Grandpa was supposed to have heen there walkin' the floor one night a-cllrsing and walked up and hoard him. a-ventin' his, spleen on And the vict~m this would-loe , vict~m he had in mind. ;, Somebody went out of the Inn and didn't fasten tho few inches and, uh, the would-bo door and it swung back a vI.cti'Im put a. 1JulIet tH1 ough his head. So that's the way Grandpa went. ~ut he left his place nowi-ho had a will made--he left it to his, household goods to his \vife. lle had several more children and left his, all of his, property to his son .Joseph. ~ut the Indians had a law and court of their own and they f>et that will aside and divided his property equally among his children. So now .Joe, his son and my uncle, llncle .Joe, he lived there--Grandpa was killed in Gebruary of 1809--and he lived there at Springplace until 1834. And of cOllrse the United .Statesgovernment and the state government what they wanted to do was to git the land alvay from the Indians. They wanted this land. So old Governor Gilmer, was governor of Georgia at that time, and he had some sort of a snea.ky law passed that an Indian couldn't hire a white man to work for him. "1ow Ilncle Joe didn't know that and he had a white overseer on his farm. Well, old Governor Gilmer took some of the state militiamen and went up there in March, I heliove it was, of 1834 and ran Uncle Joe out of that place. fle had to flee to another farm he had up in Tennessee. And this house has .,,:ot ground, bottom story. upper story and an attic and Uncle .Joe and his folks took refu~e in the attic; and they built a fire on the stairstops to smoke 'em Ollt and this planking that--you can see it now where its char;r,ed. So, uh, they ran Uncle Joe out from his own home on that flimsy pretext. And he sued them and finally got tI9,~OO.OO compensation for it. And he went to Neber, Oklahoma and built an exact replica of this house that's at Springplace, bllt the Yankees hurnt it durin~ the Civil War. And Uncle Joe was a hetter husinessman than ole Grandpa Jim was. He accumillated a lots of money and he had uh--steamhoat racin~ was one of his favorite passtimes. So in October of 1844 they had a steamhoat race on the Ohio River and it was very important to win that race. So Uncle Joe's hoat was named the Lucy 'Va lker - - I reckon it was one of those river boats that was prevelant at that time. So he had some, uh, slaves as Iris firemen and I don't know who \1aS the en~ineer, hut anyhow, thev set the pop valv!e on the boiler on this boat where it he, take lots more steam to make it pop off, therefore it huild up lots more pressure in the hoiler. And he llad whole lots of sides of meat, Jd mij;-t<lin~s (?) of meat loaded and when they ~ot in at the crucl'!" point in the race he had his firemen to go a-chunking ~ / in them great hunks of meat. Of COllrse that made a dickens of a fire. And the extra amount of fire plus the extra amount of steam pressure in the hailer, the hailer blew up. And that's the way !Jncle Joe went. Yes sir, he was killed there. The Lucy Walker was his, was his, boat. And getting hack to my grand, my great, great Grandmother now. She was, one of his daughters, Deliia~ married this David McNair. And then they had a daughter that was named Mary and she married William Rogers. Settled right down here. (points) And William Rogers and Mary McNair use to go right IIp yonder just across the Tennessee line to visit her mother and father. Go tIp there in a sllrry. Two horse old huggy thing. And, well I'm hout got alit of . CfIARLOTTF nELL: YOllr Grandmother said slle rememhered . 11ASTL BELL: Yeh. My Grandmother now was horn in 1830 and she remembered gain' visi tin' in that old Vann !louse up in She rememhered as a child less than four years old playing on those stairs tvhen lh1cle Joe lived there after Grandpa Jim. That tvas way after he was killed. And, Ilh, uh, old Grandpa, he sure was a sight according to all these things that I've lie didn't indulge in all the things that his father did. You know, I can't hardly wait til resurrection morning. I tvant to see what Grandpa does to (laughter). I het he's .. w] . sharpenIng hIS tomaha,\( rif~ht nO\l1 1\1<11 tin~ [or that ~ He gonna work that man over Sllre as the dead rise up again. J ANI' RE A: Did he do milch hunting 1\ AS IL 1\ r: LL : I glless he did. I imagine that they did. ~1 Ar((; I E r](WI F' LL : fIe had a big home and everything. !Te lVasn't like the Indians lVe think of. HAS lL !1 ELL: Grandpa lVas a trader and the rherokee Indians realized IVhat, uh, settlin.'; the country 11eant. Heant it bring settlers in and they'd pick the cOllntry over and tlley lVas against the roads. Well, (;randpa, heing a trader, he lVanted roads. So some of the IJnited States rommissioners come up there to Springplace and Grandpa had to get the Indians together and try to persuade 'em to let 'em have IVhat they call a cederal road from rhattanooga dOlVn thrOllgh there to Augusta. Now I guess a Federal road in that time he 'hOllt like a field road is nolV. !lut they caviled lip there a week or tlVo, five thousand Indians gathere'! at hi~ place. And said Grandpa never let his still stop. Finally got 'e', dnmk enough to agree to let this road be cut dOlVn through there. That lVas the idea of it. I,lAfTG1E HOWELL: That's fantastic! HASH BELL: Yes siree. MARGIE HOWELL: So he ran the still. Was that part of his business? nASH nELL: Oh yea. That was just the same thing as a patch of corn or any other private project yOll know really. MAHGIE HOWELL: Ri",ht. n AS I L nI' L1. : Yes siree. Well, I believe tllat about gits the extent of my knowledge about Grandpa \lann. CHAHLOTTE nEL!,: IVhat did they say? lie had big orchards? !]i\SIL IIELL: Oh yea. r.HAllLOTTE 111'1.1.: And everything around tllat place. These girls should go Ill' there and see that house if they're interested in it. ';fARGIE HOWELL: Do you ever remember, while you were yOllng, when you were being brought up, hearing stories like abollt the woods, abollt hunting, And about on tlle river or anything like thAt? IIASIL ill'LL: ~o I don't except in along the first of the 1880's (now the Indians was driven out of tllis area in 1816 or 18) but two Indians came down from tile, this reservation, up here in ~orth Carolina. Old Indian and his son, George Ax and ,John Ax, that were their name, that were, was their name. Well now, old George I think had killed somebody Ill' there and either the civil authorities of ~orth r.arolina or the--he had to flee from his trib~ one. Now they came down and lived in little ole shacks round in this com,nunity for, woll I don't know, must have boen eightoen years, and people give 'em most of what thoy had to eat and I heard 'em talk about thoy had bows IYv.~JiLand arrows and then they.Jra;:<j blow guns. This blow [';un, just take a straight cane, you know, like grows on the rivor bank and bllrn the, where its joined, bllrn that alit and they put a arrow in it and have a waddin' on it some way and to give tho air force by blowing it with the mouth. [ heard my father say that he had one of those. lIad a little spear of iron on tho end of it. And he found a rabbit in his bed once and blOW, sho~ that arro~ in the head and the darn rabbit got up and rlln off with the arrow stllck in him, strail~ht in him. But now my mother said that up here at this local store Saturday afternoons those Indians wO'lld como there and, 'Ih, they'd split a stick and put coins, yOIl know, pennies and nickeIs, small Goins, in 'om, and put 'om off at certain distance and give tho coins to theso Indians if they would knock 'om alIt of tho stick. And they say it was a sight the way, how far, aId George could knock a coin out of ono of thorn split sticks. Shoot they, they go squirreI h'lntiog, rabllit hunting with bows and arrows, bows and arrows that they made. That's abollt the extent of my knOlvledge about thorn and huntin'. MARGIE WlWELL: 'low about, do you kn01v any of tho old ghost storios or the legends? BI\SH RELL: No, I don't believe 1 do. You know, that you listen to while you sit around at night waiting to go to bed or else, or y011 know, sitting around a fire maybe that you Grandad told you or your Father? gl\SIL BELL: I just don't beliqve 1 know any. '1I\RGIE HOWELL: Favorite stories? BI\SH BELL: Stories like that. No I don't. HI\!(GIE HOWELL: Now tell \IS about Old George. 'lI\SIL BELL: Anotber incident concerning old George Ax. My Grandfather on my 'Iotber' s side was a country doctor. He practised in tbis community here. One afternoon he was up at the local store and aId George came in and tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up at him. Old George pointed his finger at his mouth and said, "White man, ,gougj it out." lIe had the too~ache and wanted my Grandfather to extract the aching tooth. So my Grandfather went out to his horse where he had his saddle bags and tooth pullers and George went with him. lIe said old George sat down on the porch, the edge of the porch, and he ~ot his tooth pulled, and twisted the awfulest old tooth out of his head yOll ever saw. Old Geor~e didn't bat B eye or make a sound. ,JA\lE PEA: lIe was a pretty strol1f': man. lJASIL BELL: Yoa, he was tou~h. I don't believe I can think of anythin~ else now. iVay back, uh, my father was a young man, must have been 1n the 1870's, he had a kinsman who lived in this area who was an old bachelor. 'Ie was about thirty-five years old, I guess, at that time. IIis name was /\lbert Lenoir. And he was probably a eighth Indian. And he decided to leave this country. (;0 down into t\labama. ~nd hhen he ~ot ready to leave he built a boat, just a flat river boat, like they use on the Chattahoochee River. They went Ollt here to what at that time, is now Pogers Bridge, was Pogers Ferry, took his, uh, what little goods he had, loaded in that boat and floated down the river. Out of this country. I shan't ever forget being a child, you know, how, uh, spectacular that sounded to me--a man f1oatin~ out of the country. So he went out and must-a settled somewhere pretty close to the nathan, Alabama, area way down there. And he moved, went over into Alabama and got a place and went to farming. back to visit here in this area. ,\nd he said And he came (Iown I' n tlIltltl,,t" uh , section of the country at certain times of tho yoar it just come up a little thunderhead, wouldn't he big as anything, hut just rain to heat the band out of it for a few minutes. ri!J' So he~ gain' somewhere one night, uh, after supper and he's passin' a cemetery and in that section of the country they build houses over the cemetery, little houses, and he'd noticed that one of those houses had a plank or two loose. And it was a fence around the cemetery right hy the side of the road. And one of those little--they called them squalls-- was approaching, He could hear the rain just a-heatin' the leaves on the trees and he realized he was gonna git soaking wet if he didn't do sometJling. So he thought about the planks heing over that little house over the grave just a few feet, you know, across the fence, So he jumped the fence and ran and crawled in the hOllse over the grave to git alIt , of the rain. And he got back in there and got his legs stretched out and he heard sOMebody else running, coming. And he said he felt like there's somehody else who had the same idea I did. And sure enough he did. This newcomer he jumped the fence and come right up to the very house that Lenoir was in and he hunkered dOlm, yOIl know, and crawled in AA4-6) and abollt tho'time lIe got in Lenoir to him,~'Don!t git on my 0' legs." And he said that man backed out~there ilnd (laughs) ,pQ left like a loose mule. \Jow, yOIl alwaY"' believed in ghosts ,i\rl' lccm<Hl"t'ffi.r! t hat 'Y-Q llf:}j)N
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Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.
As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us in a position to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials accurately. Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment. We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created. Additionally, our work to use reparative language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete is ongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.